Breaking The Wall Between Now And Then
by Bookaholic346
Summary: When Avatar Korra died, the Equalists took over, first in Republic city, then the rest of the four nations. Now there is no safe place for Benders left... that is, besides the secret underground cities that they fled to during the 'purge'. For fifty years, they have remained hidden. They have only one question: Why hasn't the Avatar come back to save them?
1. Chapter 1

When I look back to the times before, it's hard to recognise how we ended up this way. I wasn't old enough to understand the significance of anything as I was growing up, to me, the world had always been like this: broken and dangerous.

It wasn't always this way. When Avatar Korra was alive, things were much better. She remained the figurehead for peace throughout the world, holding her famed court of justice from the international refuge of Republic city.

The stories I hear of those times seem unbelievable. According to my mother, Korra was able to finally able to complete avatar Aang's plan to unite the four nations in a way that had never been attempted before. In fact, she succeeded so well in Republic city that after a couple of decades, the residents of the city refused to be identified as one nation or another: they preferred to be known as republic citizens. They discarded the old colour coded clothes of the nations, and gave themselves over to the mix of cultures. After Korra squashed the extreme equalist revolt, better rights and protections were guaranteed to the non-benders of the city, and the discrimination and tension between benders and non-benders rescinded substantially as well.

In other words; life under the watch of Korra, Avatar of the Water tribe, was peaceful.

Dark times rolled in however, when Korra passed away to the spirit world in her hundred and fourth year. Panic engulfed the city. They had looked up to their avatar to guide and protect them for so long that they were at a loss as to what to do without her. In her absence, certain people took advantage of the uncertainty to revive something everyone thought that Korra had stomped out with the utter defeat of Aman: Equalism. The leaders of this group knew that the new avatar would not be capable of defeating them for at least twelve years or so; the time for them to strike was now.

Groups began to whisper, then mumbled, then talk, then yell, then roar. The benders were overwhelmed and unorganised. The equalist party seized power first in republic city, then the rest of the world. With their rule came the purge. Hundreds of benders were killed by chi blockers , but thousands more were killed when their own neighbours and friends turned against them. Benders were powerful, but they were no match for the wroth crowds of vengeance.

And so, the benders went underground, hiding from the normal people and trying to piece together a world in hiding. Some communities were literally underground; the earth bender hideouts were scattered throughout mountains and caverns. The water benders retreated so far up the glaciers that non-water benders would die in the attempt to reach them. The fire benders found tunnels and passages to hidden locations through their beloved volcanoes. The scant air benders, descendants of Avatar Aang, returned to the impossibly high mountain tops they had occupied as nomads, before they formed their air temples centuries before.

Years passed, but with the persecution of the benders, all thoughts of the avatar were lost. In a usual time, he would have been found amongst the millions of earth kingdom children and shielded from harm until he reached maturity. Ten years passed, there was no sign, no hint that the avatar was coming back. Twenty years on, the benders lay low, hoping that the avatar was simply trying to gain strength in order to come back to help them. Thirty years of hiding broke their spirits. The Avatar had likely been killed as a child for displaying signs of bending in an equalist world. After nearly fifty years of silence from the avatar spirit, it became assumed knowledge that the avatar would be killed over and over again. Hope of rescue from their greatest master would never come. The Avatar was doomed to be reborn over and over again, never knowing what greatness he could achieve.

I'm writing this down as a… confession of sorts. I live in a small town in the earth kingdom, if you can even call us that anymore. My name is Kaiyu, Kai for short. I'm a nine year old girl who lives happily with my mother, father, older brother and younger sister above our tiny town green grocer.

My life is simple. I wake up every morning, help my parents get the shop ready, then we all sit down to eat breakfast together. My brother then drags my little sister out of her bed, and we all rush to the combined school that caters to kindergarten kids to senior high school kids.

After school, I usually run around, playing games with my friends. One of our favourite games is the revolution, where we pretend to be equalists in the old days fighting the evil benders. Only recently have I really begun to look into the deeper meaning of this game. It never bothered me when I was little. Most of the people in my town believe that the benders died out long ago. Certainly none had been born in our area of the earth kingdom in living memory. Our children's games were the only reminder of the extraordinary people that had once walked freely among us.

We played all afternoon, and would have played longer, but eventually our games came to an end when the high school bell rang, and all the older kids came out. At this point, my brother would take me and my little sister home, where we would all have a children's supper before my little sister was put to bed. In the evenings, I would either help my father clean up the store for closing time, or me and my brother would sneak off together to 'play'.

My brother is fifteen, tall, lanky and intimidating. With chin length black hair and his dark green eyes, he always looks a little shadowy. He looks sleek and cool; like no challenge would ever faze him. Sometimes I wonder if we have the same parents. I'm shy, and have an embarrassing habit of babbling nonsense when I get nervous. We both have the black hair, but where his is smooth and tidy, mine is thick and curly, and tangles easily in the wind. I keep it back with a headband, but it doesn't do much good. At least I get compliments on my pretty eyes; they are dark blue, with brown patches. My brother likes to tease me about having eyes that can't make up their minds whether they want to be brown or blue, but I like them. They might be my best quality.

Well… there is one other thing… but I'll get to that soon.

Today is the first day of spring, so there's no school. It's been tradition to celebrate the beginning of the growing season with exuberant festivals in the earth kingdom for at least a thousand years. While many of the cities may have discarded the festivals as relics of the past, my town still celebrates the coming of new life with a holiday, and many people still hold parties. It's second only to the New Year celebrations here.

Many people prefer New Years: but both my brother and I love this time of year. So I started the day with the same way I do every year.

"Ling! Ling!" I launched myself onto his sleeping form. "Ling! Wake up!"

He groaned, and tried to pull the covers up over his face. "Kai… It's five in the morning!"

"I've been up since four!" I poked him in the place I assumed his ribs were hiding. "Hurry up! It's finally the first day of spring!"

He sighed, then sat up, rubbing his bleary eyes. He yawned, reaching out to ruffle my hastily brushed hair. "Spring, huh?" He blinked. "That's good."

I couldn't help but giggle. "Do you think that we can plant some flowers yet?" I asked eagerly, sliding off his bed with a small thump so he could get up.

Ling frowned. "Maybe not yet." He glanced out of his window, out through a large crack in the curtains. "It still looks really cold out there."

I huffed out crossly. "The first day of spring should mean instant sunshine and flowers." I complained. "Waiting is boring!"

Ling laughed as he walked over to his wardrobe, looking for a shirt. Lately, he only seemed to sleep in pyjama bottoms. "Haven't I told you a million times that earth is a slow thing, it doesn't do anything quickly." He turned to me with a serious expression. "Are you ready to go?"

I saluted jovially. "Yes sir!"

He gave me a rare grin. "We'd better get out of here then, right?" He picked up his beaten up leather jacket and walked out of his bedroom.

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!" I picked up my grey woollen coat from the floor and hurried out of the room.

We snuck out through the kitchen, slipping some fruit and muesli bars into our pockets for our early breakfast. I jammed my feet into my pink sneakers, impatient to get out of the house. Ling was altogether more patient, lacing up his combat boots with quick precision. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, trying not to hurry him. If I did that, he would slow down even more in order to tease me.

Normally I was as patient as him, but today was special, and I hated to waste even a second of this holiday. "Come on!" I moaned under my breath, hand on the door knob.

Ling laughed quietly. "Okay brat, I'm ready."

The town was quiet as we left for the outskirts of the city, but that was a good thing. While it wasn't unusual for Ling and I to go places together, today was a family day, and people didn't really go off on their own much. People might start to wonder what was so important that we had to do it today, not tomorrow.

It took us a quarter of an hour to make our way through the quiet streets and through into the forest. The forest was big, dark and scary. The only people who went in there made sure to stick to the road. As far as I knew, Ling and I were the only ones able to navigate the thick foliage without getting hopelessly lost. As soon as we were under the cover of the trees, both of us breathed a big sigh of relief.

We weren't wandering aimlessly, though it may have looked like it to an outsider. We took several sharp turns through the trees, and crossed a small river by the way of a fallen tree trunk. I thanked the log by patting a stunted branch every time we crossed over. It had fallen down in a storm a few months ago, making life for me and my brother a hundred times easier. Before that, we had to track a mile more upstream in order to wade across the river at a shallow point.

At last the two of us arrived at our destination: an almost invisible cave nestled into the side of a small hill. Well, I should say; we arrived at a usually invisible cave. Today, the cave was gaudily visible, with coloured ribbons tied onto the tree trunks around the entrance. I giggled as I saw them. They were mostly made up of my old hair ribbons which I had smuggled out of the house every so often.

A small smokeless fire burned in the centre of the cave floor, a bubbling pot steaming on top of the flames. Inside, I could smell the scent of frying dough. Licking my lips, I peered around in the darkness, wondering where our friend was.

Ling frowned. "Do you think he's below?" He asked in a thoughtful tone.

"Sensei said that we would be celebrating Spring Dawn today, like they used to in the old days." I peered over the pot, and saw that there was only oil inside; the dough had already been deep fried inside it and taken away.

Ling sat down, with his back against the cave wall. "He's probably out in the forest digging up roots or something." He complained. "He's so late!"

"Who's late?" a gruff voice grumbled from the cave entrance. Both of us looked up sharply to take in the ragged clothed old man blocking the sunlight from filtering into the cave. He sounded cross, but his eyes twinkled over his bushy white eyebrows. He had his knobbly hands wrapped around a handmade basket stuffed with red berries and something that resembled a white carrot.

"Sensei!" I squealed, jumping up in joy to inspect the contents of his basket more thoroughly. "What is all this stuff?" I asked.

Sensei smiled mysteriously. "I couldn't get a lot of the usual festival food that goes with a Spring Dawn festival, but I did find some substitutes." He placed the basket carefully down on a raised hump of dirt covered in a grey cloth next to a huge covered platter, then kneeled on the ground in front of the makeshift dirt table. Ling stood up to take a place opposite him.

"Tell me again what they used to be like Sensei!" I begged, slipping into the seat beside him.

"Well…" Sensei took three chipped china plates out of a little hollowed out cubby under the table to place one in front of each of us. He then began to dish out a few of the berries and white carrots. "Things were very different fifty years ago, and I was very young the last time the festival took place."

"How old were you?" I asked curiously.

"About the same age as you." He gently tapped me on the nose with one finger. "But I was much more sensible."

I rolled my eyes as I tried a nibble of one of the red berries.

"The Festival was the highlight of the year." Sensei continued. "It was the day before the planting season started, so it was like a final holiday before the hard work started. There was always lots of food, especially winter vegetables and fruits that everyone would eat raw..." He gestured to the basket of berries and carrots, "… as a way to thank the spirits for the sustenance they gave us throughout winter."

"Why did you have to eat them raw?" Ling asked as he picked up a carrot, examining the white variety with interest. "Wouldn't they taste better cooked?"

Sensei shook his head. "Eating the food in its purest form is our way of thanking the earth for its harvest; it's not cooked, flavoured or even washed before we eat it."

Ling nodded as he took a bit from the carrot. "I get it… it's like telling mother earth that we love her food just the way it is."

Sensei clapped his hands, the sleeves of his robe swaying slightly. "Exactly!" He picked up a carrot for himself and took a huge bite. "In a proper festival, there would be a much larger variety of fruits and vegetables, but this was all I could find today."

"It's wonderful." I reassured the old man as I took another handful of red berries from the basket. The berries were tart and juicy, and I rolled the fruit around on the tip of my tongue, savouring the flavour.

"The last thing we would eat would be the first grain of the last harvest, prepared into dough which we would then fry up and eat as the principal festival food." Sensei whipped the cover off the large platter with a huff of pride. The dish was laden with round balls of fried dough, golden and steaming. Ling and I admired them with round eyes. "Unfortunately, the grain used to make these ones wasn't the first of the season; it's just the flour that you two managed to smuggle to me here." Sensei sighed in disappointment. "They should at least taste the same though."

Ling smiled as he took one. "You did your best." He said solemnly. "Not everyone is supportive of the traditional ways in these times."

Sensei nodded. "It's a pity that the festivals fell out of fashion." He said dolefully. "Festivals weren't anything to do with the benders, but they got cast down as if they were. It's the saddest thing that happened in this world. Loss of culture is a terrible thing children, never let go of your heritage."

I nodded as I ate my first dough ball, but didn't speak. I was too busy savouring the flavour of the age old festival food. Different towns had different traditions in festivals, I recalled dimly, so we must be eating the traditional food from where Sensei grew up. It was a fascinating thought.

Soon the conversation turned from a lesson on the old festivals to general chatter. Sensei was very interested in some of the school work that Ling was working on at the moment; a study into the formation of Rupublic City.

"Most people in my class chose the reformation of Republic city as their project." Ling said scornfully. "They seem to be deluded. I don't think they realise that Republic city had a hundred and fifty years of history before the Equalists succeeded in taking over. Everyone seems to gloss over the fact that Aman lost the first equalist war too. It's so stupid."

Sensei nodded in vigorous agreement. "Try to be careful about this topic though." He warned however. "You will need to portray the city before the equalist uprising in a negative light."

Ling huffed, putting his chin in his hands. "I know I have to, but it's so unfair it makes me want to scream."

"All things pass in time." Sensei poured out another cup of tea for my brother. "We have to be like stone. Be calm, be patient. Change will wash over this land once again."

Ling sipped his tea. "I know." He said sullenly. "The world had to wait a hundred years for Avatar Aang to come back. I must be as patient as the people then."

Sensei chuckled. "Most people had almost given up on the avatar after a hundred years." He pointed out. "But at least they still had hope. It only took our people forty years to give up completely on a reappearance of the Avatar. We are a much tamer people than we were back then."

"Maybe the Avatar will come back after a hundred years, like Avatar Aang." I piped up. "Or he could already be born, and just waiting for the right moment to come back."

Sensei ruffled my hair. "It would be extraordinary if the he came back." He agreed. "But I doubt he will."

"Why?"

"Because not all children are as lucky as you and Ling. Being born a bender in these times is very dangerous." Sensei stood up, dusting his tunic off as he did so. He held out his hand. "Shall we go below now? I shall show you another tradition that is sacred to the Spring Dawn festival." He smiled ruefully. "And this part does involve bending."

I jumped up like lightning. "Let's go!" I grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "I can't wait!"


	2. Chapter 2

'Below' is the loose term we have for the gigantic underground cave that Sensei has carved out painstakingly underneath the cave. While some of the vast space is dedicated to Sensei's living arrangement, with a closed off curtain area where he sleeps, most of the area is one flat area of dirt and rock.

It is here, right under the noses of everyone in our town that Ling and I train in the martial art of Earth bending. Sensei was one of the lucky few earth benders that managed to get away during the purge. He was only ten, but his earth bending teacher had him and some other students in class when the Equalists arrived to round up all the benders. His earth bending teacher led his class into the mountains, where they joined a larger group of benders that managed to get away. From there, Sensei finished his training and became a master earth bender.

Sensei has told us about the underground city that formed when the benders had to go into hiding, but he never told us exactly where it is located. I think it's to keep it a secret. From my own deductions, I could see that each bender refuge is incredibly secret. Only benders could possibly get to them without killing themselves, and the locations are so secret that most of the communities don't know where the others are located. The Equalists have made it impossible to stay safe without hiding even from each other.

Sensei is a different kind of bender in hiding. He still lives underground, but he takes substantially more risk than other benders. His reasons are simple; he risks the surface in order to help the benders born outside the hidden places. Sensei is placed in the outside world just enough to watch over the people of the towns in this area. If he suspects a child is possibly a bender, he attempts to get into contact with that child in order to get them away from the normal people before the Equalists come for them. That's what happened to Ling.

Ling was six when he started noticing that he could make pebbles move just by concentrating really hard. He didn't show anyone his new trick though, his quiet nature made him want to keep it to himself. Instead of showing off to his friends, Ling began to wander off to the outskirts of the town to experiment. Before long, he could break up small boulders with his bare hands and make all sorts of different types of rock move in the ways he wanted.

If he had been left to his own devices much longer, the people in our town would have found out about his 'earth magic' and reported him to the Equalists. Luckily, Sensei stepped in before anything like that happened. He showed Ling that he could make rocks move too, and told him that it was very important to keep his abilities a secret. By the time Ling was seven, he was sneaking off to visit Sensei in the afternoons and learning to be a proper earth bender.

When Ling was eight, Sensei told him about the secret city that he came from. He told Ling that it would be best if Ling ran away from home in order to learn from a master in the underground city.

"You're getting powerful." He told Ling. "People might start to notice if you don't keep your feelings in check. If they discover that you are a bender, the Equalists will kill you."

Harsh words to say to a child, but Sensei needed to make a point. Ling was a bender, and as long as he lived among the non-benders, he would be vulnerable and exposed. Ling, being Ling, understood the situation perfectly and agreed to leave home.

Or he would have, if it wasn't for me.

I was three, my sister was one, and Ling didn't really have much to do with his baby sisters. To him, they weren't interesting; they couldn't play with him, and they could barely talk. However, thinking he would never see us again, Ling offered to look after us one afternoon while Mom went shopping.

I don't remember this afternoon, but Ling has told me of it a lot. "You're the only reason that I stay." He always smiles at me as he tells me the story.

"I was bored just sitting in the house watching TV with you and Lea, so I took the two of you outside into the garden, where at least I could feel the dirt between my toes. The garden is fenced in, as you know, no one could see us and Mom wouldn't be back for ages." Ling shrugged. "I did what I always do when I'm idle and no one can see: I practiced my bending forms. Lea was sleeping under the old apple tree, tucked in an old blanket, but you… you were wide awake and watching me." Ling grinned. "I didn't notice you were watching me until you stood up and tried to copy me, and you gave me a hell of a fright. I thought you were asleep too. I was about to yell at you, when I noticed something strange. You were following the moves carefully and fluidly, with a grace I didn't expect a three year old to have. I watched, totally dumbfounded, and you used earth bending to lift one of the garden's decorative rocks up into the air. It only lasted a few seconds before you lost concentration and the rock crashed back into the flower garden, but you did it. After that, I realised that I couldn't run away and leave you behind, not if you were an earth bender like me. I also couldn't take you with me. It would be strange for a kid to run away from home and take his toddler sister with him, not to mention the fact that travelling with a three-year-old was difficult even in the best of circumstances. After I had made you promise never to make the earth move in front of anyone but me alone, I went to see Sensei to explain why I had to stay."

I thought back on this story now as I looked around sensei's training arena. I wondered if Ling and I would have to leave our town eventually. I was almost ten, two years older than Ling when Sensei told him to run away. Ling had just turned fifteen, and he had hiding his abilities down to an art by now. He was a lot better at controlling his emotions than me.

Sensei turned around and smiled widely at me. "Do you have any idea what the bending tradition related to the Dawn of Spring festival is?" He asked.

I shook my head. "We've never done anything like this before." I commented. "Is it only once every ten years or something?"

Sensei shook his head. "No, they used to do this every year at the festival, depending on how big the town was. Do you still have no idea?"

I shot a hopeful look towards Ling: He always had the answers; he was a lifesaver when it came to me finishing my homework.

"What's been missing from of festivals so far is the ceremony of earth bending mastery." Sensei explained. My heart gave a surprised thump. "Every year at the Spring festival, those students who had been deemed worthy by their earth bending teachers were granted the title of earth bending master."

"Sensei… what does this mean?"

Sensei leaned forward to ruffle my hair once again. "Kai! It means that this year, as my right as your teacher on the Dawn of Spring festival day, I am elevating you to the rank of Master Earth bender. Ling got his mastery four years ago, when you were too young to sneak out and see me early on festival day. So today it's your turn."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I flung myself at sensei, hugging the old man tightly. "Thank you!" I sobbed. "This is the best day of my life."

Sensei hugged me back just as tightly. "Mine too." He admitted. "Today, and the day that Ling became a master are days that I will treasure forever. I love to watch you grow and become strong." He patted me on the back gently as I continued to cry. "It gives this old man some hope to see that the equalists haven't destroyed us just yet."

* * *

Ling and I had to go home soon after that, before our parents noticed that we were gone. Ling led the way through the forest, and before long we were right back where we started; sitting in Ling's bedroom waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. It was only six thirty, and we had only been at Sensei's for an hour, but it felt like a year.

Had I really left the house this morning a pupil and come back a master?

Ling set a tea cup down in front of me with a small click. I looked up, startled. I hadn't noticed he had left the room, let alone noticed him come back in with the tea. He moved like the wind; fast and silent.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly as I took a hasty sip of my tea.

It was hot and sweet. "I'm fine." I stared into the teacup.

Ling sighed heavily. "Spill it. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing." I snapped. "I said I'm fine, didn't I?"

Ling said nothing, just slurped loudly on his tea, knowing the noise annoyed me.

"What does a master earth bender do?" I asked quietly.

Ling laughed. "That's what's worrying you?" He scoffed. "Being a master isn't that different from being a pupil, you can still learn new techniques and styles."

I frowned at him. "Then what's the point of being a master?" I asked.

Ling set down his cup and stared at me seriously. "Being a master means that you can teach someone else to earth bend." He began. "Or fight alongside other benders without being a hindrance. Kai, being a master just means that you're good enough to be called a master rather than just a student."

I shook my head. "It sounds rather confusing to me."

Ling smiled at me as he took another sip of his tea. "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually."

* * *

_Second chapter! I'm so proud that I managed to get another one written! I have a bit of a short attention span when it comes to stories that go on for a while, but hopefully this one makes it all the way through to the end. I have a good feeling about Kaiyu. Please review, and don't be afraid to give constructive criticism, I want to make my writing better!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ling and I couldn't go back to visit Sensei for a whole two weeks. Ling had school exams, and in his absence, there was twice as much work for me to do around the house. Not only did I have to do the work, I also had to be constantly on guard, making sure that I didn't accidently lift a load that should be far too heavy for a girl my size. I had to be careful; no one could suspect how strong I really am.

Maybe I was just tired out from the work in the shop, but I didn't notice any of the signs. I didn't notice that more strangers than usual were coming through our town. I didn't notice that our school started to change its curriculum slightly from one of slight equalist education to intense equalist ways. Why didn't I notice these tiny things? Earth Benders are supposed to wait, listen, observe and _then_ strike. I could wait, but I failed at listening and observing. I did not deserve the master status that Sensei gave me.

"Kai! Kai!" the yell broke through my daydream, splintering the quiet I had drawn up around myself.

"What is it?" I asked irritably. The girl who had been calling my name skidded to a halt alongside my desk, pigtails bobbing as she tried to huff her way towards a normal breathing pattern once again.

"Some freaky stuff is going on near the high school." Jenna huffed. "You want to come have a look with me?"

Two desks down, the loner Sen-su looked up from his Gameboy. "What kind of weird stuff?" He wanted to know.

Jenna shook her head. "No clue." She admitted. "Some guys from the government turned up."

"The government?" I repeated curiously. "What do they want with our school?"

Jenna rolled her eyes. "I told you, I don't know. I only saw the crowd and thought you guys should know. Everyone else in our class was already outside for lunch."

"I'm only in here because I have to finish off that essay." I reminded Jenna. "It's not like I wanted to be in here." There was an awkward silence.

Sen-su looked very interested in his Gameboy once again.

"No offence Sen-su…" I added.

"None taken. I kind of like staying inside anyway."

"Forget the essay." Jenna grabbed my hand hurriedly to pull me towards the classroom door. "There's something huge going on, and we're missing it!"

"Okay, okay!" I gave up and began to follow her. As we reached the door to the classroom I had a second thought and paused. "Coming Sen-su?" I asked politely.

Sen-su shoved his Gameboy into his pocket and looked down at the floor. "Sure, I guess…" He mumbled.

"Come if you're coming, just hurry!" Jenna moaned, tugging at my t-shirt.

The thought of missing something big going down was too much for Jenna, as soon as we were in the corridor she broke into a jog, and hurtled so fast down the front steps of the school I was worried she was going to trip and break her neck. I ran too, but at a slower pace, keeping myself running just behind my friend.

Eventually we burst into the main courtyard, the one the high school main building surrounded on three sides. The area was crowded with students and teachers, all shouting and screaming. I wondered what could be going on to make my normally good natured neighbours look so angry and furious. As Jenna and I delved deeper into the crowd, I started to notice that it wasn't just people connected to the school in the crowd. There were adults from all over the town, all pushing and shoving.

With a sharp wrench of movement I was ripped free of Jenna's hand, and she was swallowed up by the crowd in my vision.

"Jenna!" I panicked, trying to squeeze my way through back in the direction I thought she was going, but someone spun me around, and I thought I was going to get crushed, the way people were pushing. Before I knew it, salty tears were splashing down my face.

"Ling!" I called desperately. "Ling!"

Suddenly I pushed through a gap and into empty air. I was free of the crowd. Tears and sunlight blurred my vision, but I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I looked up towards the oak tree that grew in the centre of the courtyard, and screamed.

Hanging from the tree, face bloated and strangled, was Sensei. His eyes rolled back, his chest was still. He was dead.

He was dead.

He was dead.

He was dead.

How could he be dead?

Why was he dead?

I screamed again, a deep shaking growing within me. A large hand took me firmly by the shoulder.

"This is why this is unacceptable!" a furious male voice shouted. "This is a school! You can't execute anyone here! Kids can see all this!"

I blinked once, trying to shake off my shock.

"We believe that it is best that these children see justice done." An icy clipped tone rang out over speakers. "In this way we can discourage the youth from making any decisions they may regret."

"Screw that!"

"I have a five year old at this school!"

"Take the traitor somewhere else and shoot him!"

"And take the bender down from our tree!"

"Yeah!"

I had to concentrate, I realised. This was a dangerous place to be right now. They had caught Sensei, so I needed to find Ling and run before they could get us too.

I looked up to see the person still holding my shoulder was the man who owned the neighbouring shop to ours, a short stout man who owned a book store named Mr Chu. We were standing in the front of the crowd that was held back by police to allow some government men a circle of space around the oak tree. Despite the fact that the crowd surrounded them, the men were completely calm, standing in their smart dark uniforms with feet planted firmly on the ground. The leader was no more than two metres away from me, holding a megaphone.

I wriggled slightly, startled as to how tight my neighbour's grip was. He was holding my T-shirt tightly with one hand, keeping me pinned back to the crowd. I wondered why he would do that, I wasn't the type of girl to do anything stupid, and he knew that.

That's when I heard the yell.

"Kai!"

"Ling!" I whipped my head around so fast that my headband popped free and fell to the ground.

"Kai! Go home, get out of here!"

That voice… my blood froze as I looked to the direction the voice was coming from. There! Under the oak tree, two of the men in the government uniform had him kneeling in the dirt, twisting his arms up behind his back. He was looking at me with one green eye; the other was forced closed by a flow of blood from a cut on his forehead dripping over it. His lower lip was split, and his right cheek was already starting to bruise.

I stared at him in horror. "LING!" I half screamed, half sobbed his name. I tried to run forward, but Mr Chu still had my shoulder in his tight grasp. I struggled against him, trying to run forward to my brother, but failed miserably.

Ling shook his head fiercely, and I stopped struggling. I knew what he was trying to tell me: Run, while you still have the chance.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I can't leave without Ling.

"Let go!" I screamed at Mr Chu. "Let me go!"

"Kai… there's nothing that we can do for Ling." Mr Chu hissed. "Stay still and stay quiet, or they'll take you too!"

"NO!" I screamed. "LING DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! ANYTHING!"

The leader of the government representative's eyes flicked towards me before switching on his megaphone. "This boy we have apprehended is a proven traitor. He has been giving aid to the earth bender living in your forest." The leader paused. "We also have reason to believe that this boy also learned how to earth bend from this man too. The penalty for earth bending, as you all know, is death."

"LING!" I screamed. "YOU CAN'T KILL MY BROTHER! YOU CAN'T!" I was crying and sobbing, and I didn't care that my screams were so loud now you could hear them above the crowd. Slowly, people were stopping their own yelling to turn around to look at me, the distraught little sister.

Ling growled at the leader. "If you're going to kill me, don't do it in front of my little sister." He spat out in contempt.

The leader spat on him. "Benders don't get last requests." He told my brother.

"YOU HAVE NO PROOF!" I yelled. "I'd KNOW if my brother was one of those horrid people!" The argument was weak, I knew it, but I had to try something.

The leader's cold eyes snapped onto mine. "Don't you know little girl?" He smirked. "All benders are liars."

"Not _my_ brother!" I pleaded, falling to my knees. "Please… Please don't kill Ling… please." Tears dripped onto the dirt as I bowed forward, forehead touching the ground.

"Get the girl out of here." The leader growled. "Now."

Two pairs of hands wrenched me to my feet roughly. "NO!" I screamed, struggling against them. "My brother! My brother!"

The leader drew a silver pistol out of a holster at his hip and swung around to point it right between Ling's eyes. His eyelids fluttered shut, and I could see his lips quivering. He was too stubborn to beg for his life though. Why did he have to be so stubborn?!

"LING!" I jumped up as high as I could, and then slammed down to earth right onto the sensitive toes of my handlers. In the midst of swearing and crying out in pain, their grip around my arms loosened considerably. It was enough for me to rip free and sprint towards the leader. He turned to look at me, startled at my charge.

I took a wild grab for his gun, hoping only to stop him from shooting Ling. I didn't think. I didn't observe. I didn't wait.

BANG!

I crumbled to the ground, tasting a mouth full of dirt. I dimly heard Ling yelling. He was finally fighting back, screaming and yelling at his captors.

_Good._ I squeezed my eyes shut. There was a dull throbbing spreading throughout my entire body, making me shudder inside. It hurts. It's hurting me now. Opening my eyes again, I noticed how dim and blurry everything had gotten. The sky was just blue streaked with grey; I couldn't see the ground anymore. No. there was something else there: Ling… His face was in front of mine now. He was yelling, but I couldn't hear the words.

What was happening?

My eyelids were drifting shut, but I wanted to keep them open. It was like I was sleepy, but I didn't want to sleep.

Ling's head whipped around, looking back at something I couldn't see. I could feel pressure on my hands; they were being pressed down onto something wet on my stomach. Maybe I should keep them there. My eyelids fluttered closed.

_Hot._

My eyes snapped open again. The sky wasn't blue anymore; it was red, orange and grey. Fire streaked across the sky.

_Someone should call the fire department._ I thought sleepily._ The school is on fire…_

I was wrenched up in a hurried fashion that made me gasp. Someone was cradling me in their arms. I hoped it was Ling. I hoped they didn't shoot Ling too. Mom and Dad would be sad if we both died. I know I'm dying now. Strange, isn't it, the stuff you start thinking about? People say: Your life flashes before your eyes, but all I can think about right now is that stupid essay that I still hadn't finished. I'm so foolish, and now I've run out of time.

I gave up and melted into the black.

* * *

_It's been a while since I've updated anything, and I felt like I should. I had this on my computer already, so I thought that I would post it. Hope you liked it!_


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